UNRISD Research Informing UN and National Policy Making in the Middle East and North Africa Region

22 May 2017

UNRISD has this year been an engaged partner with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in the preparation and delivery of the annual Arab Forum for Sustainable Development. The Forum was held in Rabat, Morocco on 3-5 May 2017 and hosted by UN ESCWA and Moroccan Ministry of General Affairs.

UNRISD expertise was in high demand and much valued by the organizers and the participants of the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development. UNRISD Director Paul Ladd and UNRISD Senior Research Coordinator Ilcheong Yi both provided guidance on the preparation of the Forum and made presentations at the event itself.

Paul Ladd gave a keynote speech on Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity based on findings from the UNRISD 2010 and 2016 Flagship Reports, covering three key points: the concepts of poverty and prosperity, the multidimensionality of inequality, and the meaning of transformation in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ilcheong Yi spoke on two panels, both on Poverty and Prosperity: The Question of Distribution, and on building a strong review framework at country level for the Voluntary National Reviews to be presented to the High-Level Political Forum, the United Nations central platform for follow-up of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . He drew on experience gained from involvement in the Review prepared by the Republic of Korea in 2016, and from discussions with government representatives at the recent Executive Training Course that he contributed to.

Staff at UN ESCWA appreciated UNRISD's contributions, and follow-up discussions on future collaboration between the two entities are planned.

UNRISD's contribution feeds into the findings and recommendations of the Forum which have a long trajectory in UN policy processes: they convey the key messages from the Arab region to the 2017 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) and will also be submitted to the ESCWA Executive Committee and Ministerial Session.